


i get by (with a little help from my friends)

by melodreama



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, I'm not complaining, Multi, atlasecretsanta2020, but i had to include them, except it's not really structured like that, happy holidays to anyone who sees this, hasbro sponser me i'm giving you clout, i think, it's either crack or angst, listen i'm not good at writing fluff, more uno, my tagging? excessive. my christmas? merry., not beta read we die like men, not enough to count as angst, speaking of, there's like one or two angsty lines, this is the second of two fics that i have that have uno in them, toph is in her natural state and that natural state is rock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28316901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodreama/pseuds/melodreama
Summary: Would Sokka judge him for leaving it so late, despite the fact that he had gotten Suki and Zuko their anniversary gifts an hour before he arrived at the restaurant for their fancy anniversary dinner? Absolutely, but would he help nonetheless? Undoubtedly.Or: The five people that Aang asked to help him find an anniversary gift for Katara, and the one person who actually helped.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang & Mai (Avatar), Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang & Suki (Avatar), Aang & Toph Beifong, Aang & Ty Lee, Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	i get by (with a little help from my friends)

**Author's Note:**

> okay so,, maybe i started this, like, two days ago. maybe i'm not super proud of it. but, like, happy holidays i guess!
> 
> this is my secret santa gift for @the-bi-in-bison on tumblr! i hope you like it :D i tried to hit both the modern au kataang prompt and the aang and suki interaction prompt in one fic. merry christmas and happy holidays!
> 
> shameless self-plug: follow me on tumblr at @mellowdreamer. am i online often? no. but when i am, i am kind of maybe funny.
> 
> (also,, somehow i ended up writing about uno in this, meaning i have a 100% rate of including a uno scene in my fics.)

Admittedly, leaving the task of acquiring an anniversary gift for Katara to last minute was a mistake.

As someone who was almost proud of the fact that they were stupid with love, Aang had spent so much time thinking about what he loved about Katara that he had spent not nearly enough time thinking about what she would love for an anniversary gift. The days were running out, and yet still Aang couldn’t find any ideas for the perfect anniversary gift for the perfect girl. Thus, with the ticking clock looming over him, Aang set off on a journey to figure it out with some help from his friends.

The first person that Aang asked, of course, was Sokka. 

Would Sokka judge him for leaving it so late, despite the fact that he had gotten Suki and Zuko their anniversary gifts an hour before he arrived at the restaurant for their fancy anniversary dinner? Absolutely, but would he help nonetheless? Undoubtedly, which was why Aang decided to ask him over the game of Uno they were playing in the science lab.

“Hey, Sokka, can I ask you something?” Aang asked in the quiet moment as Sokka was choosing a card to place.

“Shoot,” Sokka replied without looking up from his Uno hand.

“What should I get Katara for our anniversary?”

“Isn’t your anniversary, like, Saturday?” Sokka grinned mockingly and, to rub salt in the wound, placed down a +4 card. “Blue.”

“Well, yes, but I’ve been trying so hard and I can’t think of anything. I was hoping that you could help?” As he drew 4 cards from the deck, Aang focused his signature puppy dog eyes on Sokka.

Sokka melted under Aang’s pleading gaze. “Act of service, or whatever it’s called. You could try, like, cooking one of her favourite foods for her. Or one of those,” He shuddered, “Meatless vegetarian meals.”

“What’s wrong with the vegetarian meals?” Aang slammed his card down on the pile with a slight glare.

Instead of answering Aang’s _justifiably offended_ question, Sokka placed down his second-last card. “Uno.”

Aang exclaimed in shock, and the conversation surrounding an anniversary gift slipped away in his haste to somehow salvage a win. There was absolutely no chance that Sokka would be able to win this early into the round. Aang had barely placed down any of his cards, having been hit with pick up cards. Surely, Sokka was bluffing to psych Aang out.

(Sokka won.)

* * *

Toph’s response to the same question that he had asked Sokka was to laugh in his face so boisterously that it attracted the attention of everyone else in the Ba Sing Se University quadrangle.

“Twinkletoes, you are _hopeless_. I don’t think I could see what Sugar Queen sees in you even if I could see!”

While Toph chortled at her own joke, Aang sent her a frustrated glare, believing her unable to see it. The rock thrown at his head moments later was proof that she could sense it, after all.

“Come on, Toph, please. You’re so,” He paused for a moment, trying to think of what word would be the most flattering way to describe Toph. “Uh, powerful? And surely a being as powerful and mighty as you would have a good idea on what to get for Katara, or something.”

A grin split Toph’s face in half. “Powerful, huh?”

“Uh, yep, powerful.” Aang tried, gulping as Toph somehow directed her stone-cold gaze right at him. “You are, after all, the greatest Earthbender in the world. If anyone would know, it would be you.”

Toph picked up another rock from the ground, pretended to consult it, and then handed the rock to Aang. “Make her something. You know, something handcrafted that you put time and effort into. Katara’s a sap, she’ll love it.”

Aang pocketed the rock and said nothing, torn between defending Katara vigorously and showing his gratitude for Toph’s admittedly excellent advice.

* * *

Zuko usually wouldn’t be someone to ask in such a situation, as his social skills were lacking at their best, but Aang had faith in him. Sokka and Suki had been working hard for months to bring him out of his shell, and Uncle Iroh had been showing Zuko the positive affirmations that Zuko had been craving for so long. After all the effort they and others had put in to help Zuko, he had to have learned some kind of gift-giving wisdom, right?

Aang’s faith was, unsurprisingly, misplaced.

“You could take her out to dinner?” Zuko asked more than answered after at least three minutes of thinking the problem over, by which time his small cup of jasmine tea had cooled.

“That’s not good enough for Katara, Flameo.” Aang huffed into his own cup of tea, impertinent but not begrudging.

“...That’s what I always do with Sokka and Suki.” Zuko frowned to himself, filled with premonitions. Was it not good enough for Sokka and Suki? Was he not good enough for Sokka and Suki?

“Hey, wait, not like that. From you, it’s perfect. They love that you try stepping out of your comfort zone just to do something nice for them - and, you know how much Sokka loves food.” Aang replied, relieved to see the frown disappear from Zuko’s face. “I want to do something more personal for Katara.”

Zuko took another minute to ponder, chin resting on his hands. “Why don’t you just ask Katara?”

“I can’t do that, Zuko. That would spoil the surprise. And besides, our anniversary is this weekend, I don’t want to let her know that I waited this long to get something for her.”

Zuko took a sip of his now cooled tea, cringing at the taste. “Well, what would Uncle Iroh say?” He asked, more to himself than to Aang. “Something like; you must look inside your heart and seek the answer from within. Only when you seek the answer will you find the answer.” 

“...I don’t see how that will help me.” 

“Yeah, me neither.” Zuko stood Aang up from the table and directed him over to a corner booth. “If I can’t help, and Uncle Iroh can’t, maybe Mai and Ty Lee will have some better ideas.”

* * *

“All you need to do is spend time with her and tell her that you love her!” Ty Lee cheerfully answered without missing a beat from where she was curled up in the corner of the booth. There was a scoff from across the table, where Mai was sitting with her feet tucked under Ty Lee.

“Lame. You should rid the world of all of her enemies.” Mai drawled, words malicious but tone soft. “How about the misogynistic old man that her Gran Gran had a thing with - Pakku?”

Aang made the wise decision to not question how Mai, a criminology major, knew the teacher that Aang, a veterinary nursing student, and Katara, a medicine student, had studied under before he had quit his job and attempted to run away with Katara’s grandmother.

“I really wanted to do something special this year.” Aang looked wistfully out of the window and was distracted momentarily by the fluffy dog walking by the Jasmine Dragon. “Katara means everything to me, and I wanted to give her something that showed that.”

“That’s so sweet, Aang!” Ty Lee tore her eyes away from the dog to smile at him. “Well, I’m sorry that we couldn’t help more. You should try asking Suki! She’s the one who helped me to find the rainbow iridescent knives that I bought Mai for her birthday last year, I’m sure she’ll be able to help you as well.”

“Suki, huh.” Aang took a moment to ask himself why he didn’t go to Suki first and save him all of the trouble. “Do you know where she is now?”

“At the Kyoshi Dojo, of course!” Ty Lee’s smile somehow got even wider. “She’s teaching a class for the juniors now, but she should be done at the end of the hour if you want to head there now.”

“Ty Lee, Mai, thank you so much for the help! Zuko, uh, thank you too?” Aang left no room for response as he leapt up and bolted from the Jasmine Dragon. Zuko stuck his head out of the back room, where he had been attempting to reheat his cup of jasmine tea.

“He is seeking the answer, but will he find the answer?”

Ty Lee and Mai shrugged in unison. They hadn’t understood Zuko’s Iroh impression either.

* * *

The Kyoshi Dojo was filled with young children that were intently staring at Suki as she demonstrated some of the traditional tessenjutsu moves with her fans. Aang was similarly mesmerised from where he was waiting off to the side. As the class ended, he watched Suki’s students bow to her and scutter hurriedly off of the mat. “You’re great with the kids, Suki.”

“You think so?” Suki wiped the sweat from her brow as she herself stepped off of the mat, greeting Aang with a light hug. He pulled away and nodded in response, letting a smile settle across his face. “I’m proud of them. The kids have all been doing really well this year.”

“They couldn’t have done it without you.” Aang held up his fist and Suki bumped it with a light laugh.

“So, Aang, what brings you to the Kyoshi Dojo?” Suki asked after another beat. “I mean, you’re always welcome amongst the Kyoshi Warriors, but usually you call ahead if you want to hang out.”

“I, uh,” Suddenly nervous, Aang rubbed the back of his neck and tried to will away the red tinging his cheeks. “If it isn’t too much trouble, I wanted to ask for your help with something.”

“Of course. Help as in a favour, or help as in,” Suki cracked her knuckles menacingly, “ _help_?”

“Not like that, Suki.” Aang blushed harder. “I need help figuring out what to get Katara for our anniversary. I’ve been asking all of our friends, but none of them have been able to help.”

“Last-minute gift-giving, huh? That sounds like something that Sokka would do.” The two friends shared a laugh. “I can try and help you figure it out, sure. What did everyone else say?”

Aang thought back to the whirlwind of a day he’d had, chasing his friends all over the university campus only to eventually come up empty. “Sokka said to cook something, Zuko said to take her out for dinner, Ty Lee said to just spend time with her, Mai said to kill her enemies - which is off the table - and, uh, Toph said to give her a handcrafted gift.”

“Are you _sure_ that killing her enemies is off the table?” Suki asked, teasingly nudging Aang’s shoulder with her own. “Well, none of them are bad ideas, but I think Toph has the best idea. Katara will appreciate something that you took the time to make. Any ideas?”

Aang shook his head. “I know that there has to be something I can make, but I can’t think of anything.”

Suki began packing the equipment from her martial arts classes away, with Aang wordlessly helping her. “Hmm, what about jewellery?” She started. “Not something to replace her mother’s necklace, of course, but something that could be just as significant to her.”

“That, might actually work!” Aang grinned, thinking back to their high school field trip to Omashu, and the nomads that they had met on their journey when their school bus broke down and they had to journey through the Cave of Two Lovers and Katara and he had kissed. “You know, I once thought about dropping out of school to become a jewellery maker.”

“Okay, that might be a step too far.” Suki grinned at Aang. “But, you could definitely do it, and I think she’d love it-” Suki cut herself off with a startled yelp as Aang leapt at her, throwing his arms around her in a hug that almost sent the both of them sprawling to the ground. She soon found her footing and wrapped her arms around him to return the hug.

“Thank you, Suki.”

“No need to thank me. And hey, if all else fails, just show her all of the embarrassing pictures you have of Sokka.”

Aang did end up showing Katara a bunch of embarrassing pictures of Sokka, but not until after she had cried and thanked him for the bracelet that he had lovingly crafted for her.


End file.
